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Libya Eases Coronavirus Restrictions, Reopens Border with Tunisia

Libyans wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Tripoli last Wednesday. (AFP)
Libyans wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Tripoli last Wednesday. (AFP)
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Libya Eases Coronavirus Restrictions, Reopens Border with Tunisia

Libyans wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Tripoli last Wednesday. (AFP)
Libyans wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Tripoli last Wednesday. (AFP)

Libya has started relaxing the coronavirus-related restrictions. The Government of National Unity announced that land crossings will reopen and air travel with Tunisia will resume as of Thursday.

However, it urged the people to continue to comply with preventative precautions to fight the pandemic.

Authorities stated that the epidemic situation in the country is reassuring following a decline in infections.

Official figures, however, showed that more than 2,000 cases were being recorded daily.

Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Adel Gomaa directed Minister of Transportation Muhammad Salem Al-Shahoubi and Minister of Interior Khaled Mazen to reopen the border crossings with Tunisia.

Libya closed land and air borders with its neighbor in July in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.

Libya registered 2,325 coronavirus new cases and 12 deaths, said the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 289,000 and 209,000 recoveries.

Malta and Greece have respectively sent 40,000 and 200,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Libya. A total of 890,000 people have so far been inoculated.

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Israeli American Soldier Thought to Have Been Taken Hostage in Gaza Is Presumed Dead

Israeli soldiers play football near tanks and armored personnel carrier (APC), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 2, 2024. (Reuters)
Israeli soldiers play football near tanks and armored personnel carrier (APC), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 2, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli American Soldier Thought to Have Been Taken Hostage in Gaza Is Presumed Dead

Israeli soldiers play football near tanks and armored personnel carrier (APC), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 2, 2024. (Reuters)
Israeli soldiers play football near tanks and armored personnel carrier (APC), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 2, 2024. (Reuters)

The Israeli military said Monday an Israeli American soldier who was believed to have been taken hostage alive on Oct. 7, 2023, is now presumed to have been killed during Hamas’ attack and his body taken into Gaza.

Neutra, 21, was a New York native who enlisted in the Israeli military and was captured when Hamas attacked southern Israel.

Neutra’s parents, Ronen and Orna, led a public campaign while he was thought to be alive for their son’s freedom. They spoke at protests in the US and Israel, addressed the Republican National Convention this year and kept up ties with the Biden administration in their crusade to secure their son’s release.

In a statement announcing the death, the military did not say how it came to the conclusion over Neutra’s fate.

He was one of seven American Israelis still held in Gaza, four of whom are now said to be dead. Hamas released a video of one, Edan Alexander, over the weekend, indicating he was still alive.

In late summer, Hamas killed Hersh Goldberg-Polin, another prominent Israeli American hostage, along with five other captives, whose bodies the Israeli military recovered.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Some 100 captives are still held inside Gaza, around two-thirds believed to be alive.